AMD: our 12-core server-chips use as much power current 6-core

An interesting read on computerworld states that AMD's 12-core server ship might be released as early as next year already. The twelve cores will have reduced clock speeds but will not draw more power than the current 6-core versions.

Even though the clock frequencies will fall, Magny-Cours chips will pack more performance compared to existing Opteron chips, Conway said. The larger cache and increased cores will make servers faster, Conway said.

The company's upcoming 12-core server chips, code-named Magny-Cours, put two six-core chips in one package. The same silicon is used in its six-core chips, code-named Istanbul, which are part of the Opteron line of server processors.

The chips are aimed at servers and are due out in the first quarter of 2010.

Conway also talked about finer details in the Magny-Cours chip. Two six-core chips are connected by four hyperthreaded interconnects and are targeted at two- and four-socket servers, Conway said. It includes a total of 12MB of L3 cache, with each core supporting 512KB of L2 cache. The chips will be manufactured by AMD's spinoff, GlobalFoundries, using existing 45-nanometer technology.

AMD is also working on a new x86 chip architecture code-named Bulldozer. The architecture will be used in chips manufactured using the 32-nm process in 2011. The company has scheduled a 16-core chip code-named Interlagos for release in 2011 [via computerworld].